The following is forwarded from Sierra Club Lone Star Action
BACKGROUND:
Senate Bill 3 is an omnibus water bill that has passed the Texas Senate and is being carried in the House by Rep. Robert Puente (San Antonio). The bill is set on the House calendar for floor action for today (Monday, May 21) but is not expected to be acted on until Tuesday (May 22).
Most of the provisions of Senate Bill 3 are good provisions from the standpoint of the Sierra Club and many other environmental groups – including consensus provisions on environmental flow protection, water conservation, and voluntary land stewardship that were negotiated by environmentalists and water supply interests.
HOWEVER, Article 3 of Senate Bill 3 was included in the bill at the behest of the Texas Water Development Board and certain other water development interests. Article 3 in the original bill would have designated 19 land areas in the state as “unique reservoir sites.”
The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club and other environmental groups
(including the National Wildlife Federation and Environmental Defense)
dispute the need for additional reservoirs to meet future water supply needs
in Texas.
... MORE
URGENT ACTION REQUESTED:
Water conservation should be our first priority in meeting water supply needs because it is usually the most cost-effective and environmentally sound way of doing so.
Please contact your state representative and urge him to .....
...delete the remaining reservoir site designations from SB 3 and oppose any efforts to reinstate such designations before the final vote on the bill.
...support landowner protection provisions and amendments, and support sustainable surface and groundwater management provisions.
Or, you can send an email/fax by signing up for the Sierra Club Lone Star
Action Network
HERE!
Deadline for responding: Please take action by Tuesday, May 22, 2007.
Best regards
Bob Fusinato
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